I believe in the famous adage : ‘ Tell me and I forget , teach me and I may remember , involve me and I learn .’ practice that generates actual business for them and , at the same time , provides a differentiator as a majority of our technologies are relatively new tech to the market .
How do you ensure channel partners flourish in a highly competitive market ?
Differentiation , differentiation , differentiation . That is how you build a healthy business as well . If everyone is selling the exact same product and technology and has the same level of skills , it leads to market stagnation and no one ends up making a profit as it becomes more about competitive pricing with no added value . So , we work with our partners to upskill their team , ensuring that they have a competitive edge and flourish as a business when the stakes are high . The direction and vision to drive added value and offer novel tech and solutions as a differentiator is the key to a healthy business and healthy margins .
What are the latest trends you see emerging across the channel ?
Customers are increasingly adopting a hybrid and multi-cloud approach , the latter being where there are different providers to serve different workloads and needs . What we are seeing now is that the margin made by our partners for delivering the vendor ’ s software is less important . Their growth lies in our ability to provide personalised services ; there is a bigger focus on customisation and managed services .
We now have born-in-the-cloud partners who are very agile . They don ’ t have the legacy IT hardware and software but are focused on catering for a customer ’ s cloud , hybrid cloud and multi-cloud capabilities .
We have also started to see some partner-to-partner alignment because not all legacy partners have the skills , or the time and capability to build their own skills . This is when they can align with a smaller partners for a winning combination . One has the reach and the other has the capability . We are seeing this trend in many markets .
What is your management philosophy ?
I lead with three basic principles for an engaged team . First , situational leadership , which means that there is no one-size-fits all . I adapt my management style to the person in order to see them succeed within the team .
Second , I focus on bringing out the best in people , whatever their best may be . This means identifying their strengths and weaknesses and working with their personality to ensure they can be their best and most productive self .
Finally , I try to foster a positive work environment so that people can collaborate , are comfortable and engaged , and continuously learn and grow .
When you look back at your career , what has been the most memorable achievement ?
I think my biggest and most memorable achievement has been building a partners ’ team in the Middle East , Turkey and North Africa ( METNA ) region that has worked to make this region one of biggest markets in the world for partners ’ advanced certification . When VMware hires people , there is a mandatory on-boarding training for new employees ; the METNA region is featured in that training as an exemplary for engaging with partners to achieve the highest Master Service Competencies Certification ( MSC ) leading to METNA representing more than 10 % of the overall MSCs worldwide , which is huge . This is because of the commitment of our team and our partners , who make a huge investment in time and money to offer this advanced certification to their employees . The team and environment that we have built here have become a blueprint for new hires and a reference for best practice in other markets . •
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